Editorials 



169 



A Bi-monthly Magazine 

 Devoted to the Study and Protection of Birds 



OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THF. AIDUBON SOCIETIES 



Edited by FRANK M. CHAPMAN 

 Published by THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 



Vol. 1 



October, 1899 



No. 5 



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COPYRIGHTED, 1899, BY FRANK M. CHAPMAN. 



Bird-Lore's Motto : 

 A Bird in the Bush is Worth Two in the Hand. 



At first thought there seemed to be little 

 connection between the 'closet' orni- 

 thologist, minutely examining his series 

 of specimens and describing differences 

 which, to the untrained eye, do not exist, 

 and the bird-lover in the fields and woods 

 with heart atune to nature's songsters. 

 But one has onh^ to read Dr. Allen's 

 article on the American Ornithologists' 

 Union in order to appreciate the close 

 relationship existing between scientific and 

 popular ornithology. The organization of 

 the Union brought isolated bird students 

 throughout the country in touch with the 

 leaders in ornithology and, perhaps, for 

 the first time, made them aware that there 

 were successors to Wilson and Audubon. 



This result was due largely to the work 

 of the Union's Committee on Migration, 

 which, under the direction of its chair- 

 man, Dr. C. Hart Merriam, sent out 

 thousands of circulars calling for ob- 

 servers to supply it with data on migra- 

 tion. Circumstances have thus far per- 

 mitted the publication of only a small 

 portion of the vast amount of information 



secured by this committee, but even if 

 not another word is set in type, it can be 

 said to have created a new era in the 

 history of American ornithology. It 

 asked for assistance, but it gave far more 

 than it received. Its chairman and his 

 superintendents of districts became, a, 

 it were, instructors in ornithology, with 

 pupils in nearly every state in the Union 

 and throughout Canada. The value of 

 the advice they gave to students who had 

 been plodding in the dark, prompted only 

 by an innate love of birds, cannot be over- 

 estimated, but we believe it to be a 

 demonstrable fact that the popularity of 

 bird-study in this country to-day is due 

 more to the aid and encouragement given 

 students by the members of the Ameri- 

 can Ornithologists' Union's Committee on 

 Migration than to any other influence. 



In connection with the publication of a 

 plate of 'Quills to Avoid,' we would add 

 to Mrs. Wright's plea for the Eagle an 

 appeal for the preservation of the Brown 

 Pelican. The feathers of this bird are 

 now worn so commonly — hundreds may 

 be seen in New York City daily — that 

 every one knowing of the ease with with 

 the bird may be killed and its compara- 

 tively restricted range, must feel that at the 

 present rate of destruction its early extinc- 

 tion, at least in the United States, is assured. 



From Texas reports come to us of the 

 slaughter of Brown Pelicans in large 

 numbers, and we have also heard rumors 

 that they are being killed for their feathers 

 in Florida. If the residents of the last- 

 named state could be made to realize how 

 infinitely more valuable to them a live 

 Pelican is than a dead one, we do not 

 for a moment doubt that its destroyers 

 would speedily receive their deserts. 



This apparently ungainly, but in reality 

 singularly graceful bird is the most pictur- 

 esque element in the life of Florida's coasts, 

 where its size and familiarity render it 

 conspicuous to the least observing. To the 

 tourist it is as much an object of interest 

 as the alligators or cabbage palms. It is dis- 

 tinctly strange and foreign, audits presence 

 lends a character to the view given by no 

 other bird in Florida. Its loss would, there- 

 fore, be irreparable, and we appeal to every 

 lover of Florida to aid in its protection. 



